CinemAsia Film Festival Unveils Competition, Sets ‘Gaga’ as Closing Title

Patrick Frater

23 January 2024 at 5:14 am·2-min read

The CinemAsia Film Festival in Amsterdam has unveiled titles from seven different Asian countries for its competition section.

The festival will play at the Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp and Rialto VU venues March 5-10, 2024. The event will close with the out-of-competition screening of “Gaga,” a drama about indigenous communities in Taiwan, directed by Laha Mebow.

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“Gaga” documents the challenges faced by a commune after the death of a respected tribal elder who, while alive, had held things together. Following his death problems that emerge include a land dispute, financial difficulties, an unwanted pregnancy and the risk of over-riding ‘Ga Ga’ or old tribal norms. It debuted at the 2022 Golden Horse festival and won the best director and best supporting actress awards. In 2023, it won a trio of awards including best narrative feature at the Taipei Film Festival.

This year’s seven competition titles include: “A Song Sung Blue,” by China’s Geng Zihan, which was also nominated for the Caméra d’Or and Queer Palm at the 2023 Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes; “Andragogy,” directed by Indonesia’s Wregas Bhanuteja; “Asog,” a Canada-Philippines docu-diction directed by Seán Devlin – Dutch premiere that sheds light on the impact of climate change; “Mongolian coming-of-age drama “City of Wind, directed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; “Guras,” a supernatural drama by Saurav Rai from India and Nepal; “Remembering Every Night,” a daydreamy second feature by Japan’s Kiyohara Yui (“Our House”) and “Snow in Midsummer,” a Malaysia-Taiwan- Singapore co-venture by Chong Keat Aun that delves into the anti-Chinese race riots of 1969 in Kuala Lumpur.

The festival’s complete lineup will be announced on Feb. 6.

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